Antitrust Law Daily Wrap Up, ANTITRUST—NDCal: TFT Panel Maker LG Not Permitted to Assert “Duplicative Recovery” Defense, Counterclaims to Price Fixing Claims, (Jan 17, 2013)
Law Firms Mentioned:Crowell & Moring LLP | Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP
Organizations Mentioned:Crowell & Moring, LLP | LG Display America, Inc. | LG Display Co., Ltd. | Rockwell Automation | Rockwell Automation, Inc. | Simpson Thacher
By E. Darius Sturmer, J.D.
In a consolidated multidistrict litigation centered on allegations that thin-film transistor liquid crystal display (TFT-LCD) panel manufacturers and their affiliates violated federal and state antitrust law by participating in a price fixing conspiracy, defendants LG Display America and LG Display Co., Ltd. were precluded from asserting defenses concerning duplicative recovery and from asserting counterclaims aimed at avoiding such purported recovery, the federal district court in San Francisco has held (In re: TFT-LCD (Flat Panel) Antitrust Litigation, January 15, 2013, Illston, S.). A motion by plaintiff Rockwell Automation, Inc. to dismiss the counterclaims and to strike LG’s defenses concerning duplicative recovery was granted.
The court noted that, as it had previously held in the same litigation, LG “has not provided a legal basis, under federal or state law, for its ‘violation of laws of duplicative recovery’ defense or for its related counterclaims.” It found no reason to depart from its earlier rulings. Rockwell’s motion largely mirrored one submitted by other Direct Action plaintiffs, the only exception being that part of Rockwell’s motion involved Wisconsin law rather than the laws of other states involved in the earlier motion. In opposition, LG offered only the same response that it used unsuccessfully for the Direct Action plaintiffs’ motion, along with the continued insistence that its counterclaims and defenses were grounded in constitutional law and supported by Wisconsin law.
The consolidated multidistrict litigation is No. M 07-1827 SI. The case at issue within the litigation is No. C. 12-02495 SI.
Attorneys: David P. Ross (Crowell & Moring LLP) for Rockwell Automation, Inc. Chet Alan Kronenberg (Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP) for LG Display Co., Ltd.
Companies: Rockwell Automation, Inc.; LG Display Co., Ltd.; LG Display America, Inc.
Cases: Antitrust CaliforniaNews